Bitch Media - food politicshttp://bitchmagazine.org/taxonomy/term/7357/0
enWhy Are Almost All the World's Top Baristas Men? http://bitchmagazine.org/post/why-are-the-worlds-top-baristas-almost-all-men
<p><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2846/12205233616_8bd0669010_b.jpg" alt="a lego figurine named Larry who's a barista" width="670" height="420" /></p>
<p><em>You can get coffee in LEGO world now, thanks to Larry the barista. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/julochka/12205233616" target="_blank">Photo by Julochka</a>.&nbsp;</em></p>
<p dir="ltr">This past weekend, the best baristas in the world descended on Seattle for the 2015 <a href="http://www.worldbaristachampionship.org/" target="_blank">World Barista Championships</a>. If you’ve never been to a barista competition before, the most accurate description I’ve ever heard is that it’s part Olympics, part dog show. At the championships, baristas share new ideas and push the industry forward—while, of course, showing off their skills. But in this high profile coming-together of coffee people, you’ll notice something. As the six top-notch finalists pulled their shots this weekend, only one woman—France’s <a href="http://baristamagazine.com/blog/?p=16539" target="_blank">Charlotte Malaval</a>—was in the running. &nbsp;Of the 50 baristas representing the best of their country’s coffee industry at the 2015 World Barista Championship, only twelve were women.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This is typical. While there are <a href="http://sprudge.com/a-new-study-examines-gender-representation-in-coffee-65193.html" target="_blank">many, many women working in coffee</a>, the people who represent the industry at national and international barista competitions tend to be overwhelmingly male. I ran some numbers. By my count, female baristas competing in the regional competitions leading up the World Baristas Championships do just as well as the male baristas—there are just way fewer women competing. There are typically three times as many male baristas in each competition, which often leads to a male-dominated winner’s circle. Of the past <a href="http://www.worldbaristachampionship.org/past-rankings/" target="_blank">six years at the World Barista Championship</a>, three years have had one woman in the group of six finalists and three years have been all-male. In the U.S. barista championships, women have fared better (<a href="http://uscoffeechampionships.org/us-barista-championship/" target="_blank">Seattle barista Laila Ghambari won the top prize last year</a>) but are still a minority.</p>
<p><em><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2525/3960449617_6211bc3011_b.jpg" alt="laila ghambari " width="670" height="889" /></em></p>
<p><em>U.S. National Champion barista Laila Ghambari pouring a perfect cappucinos. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/macchiato1/3960449617/in/photolist-72YkX2-72YkG6-7ciwDy-6d5x3J-6d5x45-ndtSax/" target="_blank">Photo by Laila</a>&nbsp;via Creative Commons.&nbsp;</em></p>
<p dir="ltr">Despite coffee being an everyday part of most Americans’ lives, the coffee industry—like most trades or interests—is pretty esoteric. There’s a whole culture behind that morning cup of coffee that most coffee drinkers never think about but which shapes and directs the $30 billion industry that deals with the world’s second most traded commodity. Competitions, among other coffee conferences and trade shows, are an important part of that culture. But the gender gap in coffee is not often discussed. In my experience, when people bring up the issue of gender disparity in coffee circles, it’s often poorly received and the discussion tailspins into tangents.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I have endless respect for anyone who enters barista competitions—it’s an intimidating challenge even for seasoned coffee pros. I volunteered at my first coffee competition—the North East Regional Barista Competition in New York—in 2012, after I’d been working in coffee for three years. When I arrived at the production studio where the competition was being held, the three competitor stations set up with an espresso machine and grinders reminded me of a cafe in the way a couch and backdrop on an empty stage would remind me of a living room. &nbsp;Competitors were practicing and setting up, polishing their glassware and mentally running through their routines in corners. It felt like simultaneously being backstage at a play and in the audience. Loads of coffee people were milling around, many who had come to the city for the weekend just to attend the event and support their friends.</p>
<p dir="ltr">After watching the competitors and talking to judges, I realized I wanted to compete. I saw how much I could learn and improve through the hours and hours of practice it takes to come up with a competition routine. I’d not only need to be certain that I could make and accurately describe four perfect espressos, four perfect cappuccinos, and four signature drinks of my concoction; if I competed, for 15 minutes I’d get to talk about my views on coffee to the most important coffee people in the industry! Swoon.</p>
<p dir="ltr">That aspect—where competitors talk about what’s important to them about coffee and the industry—is what makes coffee competitions especially important. It’s what makes barista championships more than just a challenge, turning them into forums for coffee people to talk about the industry and innovation. Being a competitor means being a crucial part of that important forum. It’s why lots of coffee professionals, of all genders, feel like competing can help their career in coffee: it can show that they are committed to learning and that they have something significant to say about coffee. The lack of women in these competitions means not only that it’s mostly male baristas representing the public image of the industry, but it’s mostly men setting the discourse for what’s important in the industry. &nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8519/8589750716_44c33a3f47_b.jpg" alt="a barista pulling a shot of espresso" width="670" height="420" /></p>
<p><em>A barista preparing to pull a shot in a Chilean barista competition. Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cofibreik/8589750716/sizes/l" target="_blank">cofibreik</a>, via Creative Commons.&nbsp;</em></p>
<p>After volunteering for the North East Coffee Competition and adding another year of experience to my coffee career, I entered my first coffee competition, the 2013 South West Regionals. That year, the competition was held in a production studio in the Arts District in Los Angeles. Leading up to the competition, like many competitors, I was spending sometimes 40 hours a week training—in addition to working full time. For weeks, I spent all my spare time preparing for competition and I spent whatever money that didn’t go toward rent on purchasing ingredients, glassware, and molecular gastronomy kits. Paradoxically, the more I trained, the more anxious I became.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I realized, while preparing my routine, that I was running into a familiar problem that many women encounter.&nbsp;I’m competitive, I tend to be a perfectionist. But I wanted to be myself in the competition and be proud of doing things my own way. I was worried that those things—doing well and being myself—might not go together. Watching the World Barista Championships, you’ll often find the people who do well have a certain jocular, snappy confidence. The most successful competitors are at ease with performing. While I’m okay getting up on stage and pretending to be someone else, pretending to be a more confident and more assertive version of myself—someone who's totally comfortable with being the center of attention—wasn’t something I felt I could pull off. &nbsp;I struggled with this a lot. Then, a few days before competition, a male friend gave me an unwittingly unhelpful compliment: Unlike most female competitors, he said, I didn’t seem like I was trying to be a “tough bitch” or “one of the guys” or a “cute and flirty girl.” He didn’t realize that his unhelpful comment only highlighted the pressure I was already feeling to fit into a stereotypical image of what a powerful woman looks like. Why does successful woman need to mean tough bitch or a sexy flirt? Couldn’t I just be myself?</p>
<p dir="ltr">I’ve talked to other barista competitors, male and female, about the experience and pressure of competing. Lots of them bring up feeling the need to balance “being yourself” with appearing confident. &nbsp;Maybe for women, it’s more complex than just appearing confident; it’s about feeling pressure to be confident in the right ways. The confidence gap is well documented in other fields—perhaps this is one underlying reason for why fewer women compete.&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lisa Knisley spoke to this in her 2013 article for <em>Bitch</em> about sexism in the speciality coffee industry, <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/article/steamed-up" target="_blank">“Steamed Up”</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p dir="ltr">Despite the relatively feminine face of service work in the United States, women baristas are now suffering from some of the same setbacks women chefs have encountered for several decades. As sociologists Deborah Harris and Patti Giuffre wrote in a 2011 post at The Feminist Kitchen, <a href="http://thefeministkitchen.com/2011/07/18/guest-post-a-sociological-study-of-why-so-few-women-chefs-in-restaurant-kitchens/" target="_blank">female chefs struggle not only with difficult working hours</a> incompatible with having children, but also with the “macho environment” of professional kitchens and the impossible balance of appearing “strong” without being overly “masculine” or “bitchy.” Additionally, Harris and Giuffre maintain that women chefs face sexist critics who overlook their technical skills and professional ambition in the kitchen, representing them as “motivated by the caring act of feeding people, not personal ego or financial success.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr">I think there are more reasons than just the question of confidence, though, and I’m not alone. While a couple people have written about the gender gap in coffee—focusing on <a href="http://www.sustainableharvest.com/recognizing-the-changing-role-of-women-in-coffee/" target="_blank">coffee growers</a> and <a href="http://www.jimseven.com/2012/05/01/coffee-and-gender/" target="_blank">barista competitions</a>—we’re much more comfortable talking about sexism in the abstract. Bring up the fact that you’re a woman in the coffee industry who has experienced sexism and the air in the room turns a little sour. I think it’s in part because we’re supposed to be a culturally sensitive, progressive industry—one that’s centered on creating welcoming places for conversation and being above discrimination. But as the industry became more widely perceived as a “skilled” job, the culture also became more masculine. <a href="http://www.dearcoffeeiloveyou.com/mighty-handsome-coffee-packaging/" target="_blank">Entire brands were built around the idea of “manly coffee.”</a></p>
<p dir="ltr">In my experience, the "manly coffee" trend was in tandem with baristas putting more emphasis on the importance and complexity of coffee rather than on giving the customer a great experience. Lately, it feels that the culture is changing—good service and creating relationships with customers is getting more focus. Which is great! But who is determining what fads swing in and out of fashion in coffee? Those with the highest profiles—and those people are still largely men.</p>
<p><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2930/14469205796_782da2b757_b.jpg" alt="the finalists at the 2014 barista world championship" width="670" height="400" /></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>The six finalists of the 2014 World Barista Championship. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/daseindesign/14469205796/sizes/l" target="_blank">Photo by DaseinDesign, via Creative Commons</a>.</em></p>
<p dir="ltr">Another idea that kept coming up when I talked to other female baristas about why they had or hadn’t chosen to compete was that a lot of them found a million other things more important. They didn't see barista competitions as worth the time and money it takes to compete. They wanted to focus their energy elsewhere—whether that was in their daily efforts at the cafe or outside of coffee entirely. They either felt that coffee wasn’t ultimately where they wanted to end up and so carving out a space for themselves in the industry's hegemony wasn’t all that important, that they could learn more and have more say through other routes like judging or becoming Q-graders, or that they enjoyed accomplishing things as a part of a team and so competing in the barista competition wouldn’t be as rewarding for them.</p>
<p dir="ltr">My point is this: Whatever the reasons are for why fewer women are competing in coffee, we should be talking about the issue. We should be having the discussion about what economic, social, and cultural factors play into the gender gap in barista competitions. We should be questioning whether women are being paid as much as men in coffee, whether they are promoted as often, and whether they have as many leadership roles and voices. Feminism shouldn’t be a gauche topic to bring up among friends, in general or in the coffee world. Maybe, coffee being so culturally cool, it could set a model of gender equality, breaking the mold instead of conforming to it. If it did, that would be the only way I could love coffee more than I do.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Related Reading: <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/article/steamed-up" target="_blank">Steamed Up — The Slow-Roasted Sexism of Specialty Coffee</a></em></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Rachel Grozanick creates an autobiographical comic in which everyone is a raccoon. She travels and writes about her solo peregrinations, cooks lavish dinner parties and, of course, makes and drinks a lot of coffee.</em></p>
<hr />
<p>Want the best of Bitch in your inbox?&nbsp;<a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/subscribe-to-the-weekly-reader" target="_blank">Sign up for our free weekly reader!</a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em><br /></em></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/why-are-the-worlds-top-baristas-almost-all-men#commentscoffeefood politicsSocial CommentaryTue, 14 Apr 2015 19:52:14 +0000Rachel Grozanick31314 at http://bitchmagazine.orgSay Hello to the Queer Farmers of Americahttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/say-hello-to-the-queer-farmers-of-america
<p><img src="http://outheremovie.com/wp-content/gallery/out-here/p6190213.jpg" alt="" width="670" height="420" /></p>
<p>“Queers on the farm not only challenge the stereotype of who is a farmer, and what does a farmer look like,” muses Sandor Katz, a fermentation expert as he sits cross-legged and picks at the grass in a lush green Tennessee field. “But it also challenges the stereotype of what do queers look like, and where do you find queers, and what are queers doing?” Farmer-filmmaker Jonah Mossberg explores these questions in <em><a href="http://outheremovie.com/" target="_blank">Out Here</a>, </em>a full-length documentary film and official selection of the <a href="http://www.frameline.org/" target="_blank">Frameline San Francisco LGBT International Film Festival</a>&nbsp;this June. After conducting more than 30 interviews during four years of touring farms the United States in a borrowed car, <em>Out Here </em>shows snapshots from life on seven farms run by LGBT people. &nbsp;</p>
<p>All of the interviewees, largely led by their own beliefs in “queering” agriculture, farm in a way that supports sustainable and community-based food systems.&nbsp;In the film, Courtney Skeeba, of Homestead Ranch in Kansas, says, “If you need a village to raise a child, you definitely need a community to have a sustainable food source.” Kay Grimm and Sue Spicer, of Fruit Loop Farms, grow 30 types of fruits on their land. They call their farm a “closed-loop” system: they forage from neighbors’ unused fruit trees and put almost everything on their farm to good use. At Fruit Loop, old doll heads decorate outdoor walls and seasonal weeds indicate the types of fruit trees that would thrive in that particular soil. Their model, and those of all the other small, sustainable farmers across the country, has exciting implications for an eco-feminist re-definition of our food system as a whole.</p>
<p>When not touring the country to film this documentary, Mossberg works on a farm in Northeast Connecticut. I stole a few minutes of Mossberg’s valuable time on film tour to talk about the film, the eco-queer movement, and what’s next for the Queer Farmer Film Project.</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/u2583/queer_farmers_1.jpg" alt="jonah filming a farmer" width="670" height="446" /></p>
<p><strong>VIVIAN UNDERHILL: How did you get the idea for this film?</strong></p>
<p>JONAH MOSSBERG: When I discovered that I was interested in farming when I was 18, it was around the same time that I was coming out as queer, and genderqueer, and just sorta struggling in the world, not having a lot of spaces in the world where I felt good in my body. Farming really changed my life in that way. It gave me meaningful work, it gave me nourishment, it gave me activities to do where I felt strong and valued. I didn’t know too man other queer people who were farming, but I sure wanted to. In the Bay Area there’s quite a few urban gardeners and farmers, and we started the Rainbow Chard Alliance—we’d get together and have potlucks and seed swaps, and I love that kind of camaraderie and kinship with other queer farmers and gardeners. I love hanging out and chatting with most people who are interested in plants—I love to nerd out on that stuff—but there was something super special about hanging out with a bunch of other queer people. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Do you know Ecofarm? It’s this big sustainable-agriculture conference. It’s very straight and homogenous, so we wanted to have a queer farmer mixer, and came up against a lot of pushback from the organizers of that conference. The organizers— most of whom were straight—just didn’t really understand. They were like, “No, that doesn’t need to happen in this space.” That really got me thinking. I started doing research, looking up anything related to gender/sexuality and farming, and didn’t really come up with much. I love oral histories, I love radio, I love writing. I was just asking, “What could I do that would really provide some visibility for this community?” It seemed like video was the logical choice.</p>
<p><strong>I loved the part of the film where you ask everyone what queer means to them, and you get such an array of answers. I think speaks to the term’s ability to encompass so many different experiences. So obviously I have to ask you what your definition of queer is, if you have one.</strong></p>
<p>Like people said in the movie, it’s such a hard thing to define, so my definition is what all of those people said put together. It’s going to be something different tomorrow. It’s this ever-changing, ever-evolving thing.</p>
<p>I put that part in the movie for that reason. When it was a rough cut, I showed it to my parents and some of their friends, and you know the definition of queer is a real generational thing. For a lot of older folks, they really don’t like that word. So in trying to make a movie that would appeal to a wider audience than just queer people, just farmers, I needed that part to construct a definition and offer it to people. But I don’t know—I don’t know what my definition would be. That’s a hard question.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>You’ve asked your interviewees what they think the queerest vegetable is. They all say, “<em>Not </em>rainbow chard!” What do <em>you </em>think it is?</strong></p>
<p>I think it’s something that’s so delicious, but highly underappreciated. Something like celeriac—</p>
<p><strong>What is that? Celery?</strong></p>
<p>No, it’s a root. Celery root. See? You don’t even know it. Try it! Sautee it with butter and garlic, put it in your soups—it is so good. I love growing it, it’s highly underappreciated. Why don’t more people eat this? It is <em>so good.</em></p>
<p><em><img src="/sites/default/files/u2583/queer_farmers_3.jpg" alt="" width="670" height="500" /></em></p>
<p><em>Photo: Denise Whitesides, Courtney Skeeba, and their son Marek on Homestead Ranch.</em></p>
<p><strong>Coming from a non-film background, what was the filmmaking process like?</strong></p>
<p>It was hard. I was just learning. I mean, in that respect the movie is both queer in process and in content—I was just carving out a space for myself here and going for it. Which was fun and I also made a ton of beginner mistakes. I had help in editing and production and I took community college classes in video production—but that was pretty much it. So it was all very DIY, self-taught. This is just part of my personality. I was like, “I’m going to take on this big creative project, and I don’t know what I’m doing,” but I like that, for some reason.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>In the film, you say you now have only more questions than answers. Do you have a sense of what more questions you would ask?</strong></p>
<p>I’m most interested in the question, “What are we doing as farmers that’s more than just farming?” Most of the people I interviewed were working on small-scale, sustainable farms, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. That wasn’t necessarily something I thought about going into the project, but that’s something I have more questions about now. I think small-scale sustainable agriculture is inherently a logical and safe place for queer people because it’s a place where we can enact and practice our queer values. For me, my queer values are that I’m anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian too, and engaging in farming is another beautiful way to do that.</p>
<p>Also, I’m most interested in the stories of people who don’t get to tell them. Especially in the food system, people are so disconnected, and they don’t know who’s growing their food, and I’m interested in those people’s stories that never come to the surface. In the movie, showing a diversity of people was a real priority for me, and I think that’s one of its strengths, and it’s also one of its weaknesses too.</p>
<p>It’s so interesting too, what people identify as first. Do they identify as queer first? As a farmer? Karen Washington, for instance, said, “No, I’m black. People don’t see me and think queer first, they think black, and that’s how I identify in the world.” Something that I really relate to was people saying that the identity of being a farmer is something that connects them to other farmers, not relative to queerness. I have a similar experience. I mean, I live in my hometown, and I run into people all the time. If I run into whoever at the feed store, we talk about feed. We talk about seeds. We talk about how the hay crop was this year—you know? We don’t talk about queerness. And as I’m getting older, and coming into my identity as a farmer, that’s first and foremost for me. The queerness is more around the periphery. I don’t see things in black and white anymore. I see them in shades of grey.</p>
<p><strong>What do you hope people walk away with?</strong></p>
<p>I think the movie is an uplifting movie. That was intentional. I think people’s stories are inherently compelling and joyful, so I hope people walk away seeing that it’s possible, and feeling inspired to live in rural places. I especially want to see more queer people really thriving in rural places. I hope people contemplate queerness and farming in these new ways that it’s never dawned on them to think about before.</p>
<p><strong>Do know what’s going to happen next with the project?</strong></p>
<p>I’m just trying to get through this tour. [<em>laughs</em>] Well, I don’t know. That’s something I’m really trying to strategize. I have so many contacts, and I’m trying to find out what to do with them. Is it going to be some sort of online directory? Is it going to be some sort of queer WOOFing thing, is it going to be a regional newsletter, a gathering or conference? Part of this tour has been to ask people what they want next. I’m not exactly sure. But stay tuned.</p>
<p><em>Watch the trailer for </em>Out Here <em>and d</em><em>ind out more about the&nbsp;<a href="http://outheremovie.com/" target="_blank">project at their site</a>:</em></p>
<p><iframe width="670" height="503" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pFDc_3e9B5I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><em>Vivian Underhill is a Bay Area-based freelance writer who focuses on environmental and queer issues. Follow her at&nbsp;<a href="http://vivianunderhill.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">vivianunderhill.wordpress.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr />
<p>Want the best of Bitch in your inbox?&nbsp;<a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/subscribe-to-the-weekly-reader" target="_blank">Sign up for our free weekly reader</a>!</p>
<p><em><em><em><br /></em></em></em></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/say-hello-to-the-queer-farmers-of-america#commentsfood politicsLGBTTeam QueerThu, 09 Apr 2015 21:54:28 +0000Vivian Underhill31264 at http://bitchmagazine.orgIn New Book "Defiant Daughters," 21 Women Write About Vegans, Meat, and Feminismhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/defiant-daughters-review-women-write-about-vegan-meat-politics-feminism
<p class="BodyA"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7355/9239753181_893b1f0178_z.jpg" alt="hot dogs make the shape of the american flag" width="640" height="363" /></p>
<p class="BodyA">Our ethical decisions are our own.</p>
<p class="BodyA">But <em><a href="http://www.lanternbooks.com/detail.html?session=&amp;id=9781590564196" target="_blank">Defiant Daughters</a></em>, the new anthology of feminist food politics out this spring from <a href="http://www.lanternbooks.com/" target="_blank">Lantern Books</a>, pushes readers to consider the connection between oppression of women and oppression of animals. It's especially relevant this week as we reflect on the links between meat and American identity: the US consumes an estimated <a href="http://www.hot-dog.org/ht/d/sp/i/38579/pid/38579" target="_blank">150 million hot dogs</a>&nbsp;on the 4th of July.&nbsp;<em>Defiant Daughters</em> unravels and explores the identities and big issues wrapped up in rejecting our country's carnivorousness.</p>
<p class="BodyA">"I wanted to convey to feminists the immense world of injustice we end up participating in if we think feminism only addresses oppression among human beings," writes Carol J. Adams in the introduction to <em>Defiant Daughters</em>.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyA">Adams herself is the activist and thinker behind the Intro-to-Gender-Studies required text <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0826411843?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=feminrevie-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0826411843" target="_blank">The Sexual Politics of Meat</a>, </em>a revolutionary book about the intersection between feminism and animal rights that turns 23 this year. Adams' insistence that animal rights activists cannot succeed without a feminist viewpoint <a href="/post/peta-is-a-bunch-of-bull" target="_blank">brings to mind many of the PETA campaigns</a> that lean heavily on the abuse and objectification of women and people of color as analogies for animal cruelty.&nbsp;<img style="float: right; margin: 5px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7325/9239684261_96989b35d5.jpg" alt="Defiant Daughters' cover has an outline of a hen." width="300" height="480" /></p>
<p class="BodyA">Where <em>The Sexual Politics of Meat</em> is dense and academic, <em>Defiant Daughters</em> is intimate and emotional. Together, the two provide a framework for how the oppression of females—both human and non-human—are intertwined. The anthology functions best if the reader is familiar with Adams' seminal "feminist-vegetarian criticism" and is interested in the intersecting politics of food and feminism.</p>
<p class="BodyA">This anthology excels at showing the dual oppression of woman and animals. But in targeting an audience that it assumes is sympathetic to vegetarian choices, some of <em>Defiant Daughters'</em>&nbsp; discussions could alienate omnivorous readers.&nbsp; The contributors to <em>Defiant Daughters</em> share many stories that are deeply personal and affecting. Be warned: it's exhausting to read intimate stories of the abuse, objectification, and rape coupled with images of animal suffering.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyA">When I had to take a break from reading, my partner and I went on a walk. Our conversation drifted to discussion of war. He talked about what it meant for him, as a veteran, to come back from deployment in Iraq with no effective resources for coping with the things he saw, experienced and participated in. In the grand scheme of global violence, I thought, what is factory farming, anyway? What gives vegans the right to think they can advocate for the liberation of animals when so many humans suffer around the world?</p>
<p class="BodyA">But institutionalized animal suffering is a great, invisible, violent machine. Few of us think about the lives of animals lost to a system that prioritizes capital over life and reassures us with fictionalized, pastoral imagery.</p>
<p class="BodyA">The <em>Defiant Daughters</em> anthology comes out of the confessional tradition of gathering and sharing our stories to learn more about one another. The danger of confessional intimacy is that it can work to build a monolithic identity to the exclusion of others. Fortunately, this anthology provides ample breathing room for a variety of women to express their stories while leaving room for other identities to flourish. Perhaps it is because "vegan" is a chosen identity, though not all the contributors identify as such. The writers included in <em>Defiant Daughters</em> represent a wide (but mostly white) swath of the female-identified feminist community, including women of many nationalities and ability levels, queer women, anti-sexual-and-domestic abuse advocates, academics, zinesters, artists, chefs, and high school students.</p>
<p class="BodyA">"I felt inherently betrayed by every smiling, loving family member, schoolteacher, or friend who had made the consumption of meat from factory farms a willing and regular part of their diet," writes high school student Vidushi Sharma in the collection. "At the same time, my mind had a hard time labeling the integral people in my life as cruel." Sharma grew up vegetarian and often fumbled through explaining her diet to young friends. In her essay for <em>Defiant Daughters</em>, she explores her own uneasiness with her choice to remain vegetarian despite her knowledge of the ways that dairy cows and laying hens are treated. She acknowledges the argument for humane meat, while others in the book advocate for animal liberation and the abolition of animal agriculture.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyA">This collection of stories about personal ethics and food brings to mind another anthology, <a href="http://sistahvegan.com/" target="_blank">S. Breeze Harper's <em>Sistah Vegan </em></a>(Lantern Books 2010), which collects essays from women of color who are also vegan. The power in that anthology is seeing how different women grapple with the racial connotations of vegan and vegetarianism—a diet and way of life that has been historically linked to whiteness and affluence—and how they define those things for themselves.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyA">In <em>Defiant Daughters</em>, chef Kate Jacoby's essay touches on the idea of the vegan police, and how "It's tempting to inflate your inner tube with self-righteousness to keep you floating about the heathens who have no self-control," but that this strategy doesn't achieve progressive change.</p>
<p class="BodyA">In speaking to women who have more than a passing familiarity with Adams' work and veganism, <em>Defiant Daughters</em> does have the power to address intimate issues of veganism—like comparing common dairy-industry practices with rape. Animal rights activist and Our Hen House cofounder Jasmin Singer (with partner Mariann Sullivan) effectively personalizes the issue in her <em>Defiant Daughters</em> essay. She explains that when she started to think more deeply about dairy, she couldn't help but connect cows strapped to "rape racks" and her own sexual assault.</p>
<p class="BodyA">Singer's story may be familiar to others who grew up feeling trapped and dissected by patriarchy. Instead of shutting down, though, she turned her energy outward to push back against oppression, including the oppression of animals. A light bulb moment for her was connecting the fragmentation of female bodies (both human and non-human) for visual and literal consumption to the way she was treated as a voluptuous 12-year old.</p>
<p class="BodyA">Meanwhile, in her essay "Happy Rape, Happy Meat," writer Dallas Rising deals with the feminist critique that vegans should never use rape as an analogy for the treatment of female food animals. Her assertion that people should deal with the reality of what they are participating in (including the discomfort that realization brings) is a point of contention even within the vegan community.</p>
<p class="BodyA">It is said that violence against animals is often a precursor to violence against humans. By linking the oppression of both women and non-human animals, Carol J. Adams has borne a dialogue of interspecies intersectionality that has the potential to carry us into a more compassionate future: one where the abatement of all violence is possible.</p>
<p class="BodyA">More than twenty years after she published <em>The Sexual Politics of Meat</em>, the stories in <em>Defiant Daughters</em> expand that dialogue and carry it forward.</p>
<p class="BodyA"><em>For more on feminism and food politics, listen to our <a href="/post/popaganda-episode-the-dinner-party-featuring-isa-chandra-moskowitz" target="_blank">podcast episode "The Dinner Party"</a>—featuring vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz.&nbsp;</em></p>
<hr />
<p>Want the best of Bitch in your inbox? <a href="/subscribe-to-the-weekly-reader" target="_blank">Sign up for our free weekly reader</a>!</p>
<p><a href="/issue/59" target="_blank">Read and buy <em>Bitch</em> magazine's current print issue!</a></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/defiant-daughters-review-women-write-about-vegan-meat-politics-feminism#commentsfood politicsThe Sexual Politics of MeatveganismBooksMon, 08 Jul 2013 19:04:20 +0000Jennifer Busby23375 at http://bitchmagazine.orgSNAP Judgment: Why No Food Stamps for Felons is a Bad Ideahttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/snap-judgment-no-food-stamps-for-felons-bad-idea-vitter-amendment
<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:TargetScreenSize>800x600</o:TargetScreenSize> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:TargetScreenSize>800x600</o:TargetScreenSize> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--></p>
<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves></w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting></w:TrackFormatting> <w:PunctuationKerning></w:PunctuationKerning> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas></w:ValidateAgainstSchemas> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF></w:DoNotPromoteQF> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables></w:BreakWrappedTables> <w:SnapToGridInCell></w:SnapToGridInCell> <w:WrapTextWithPunct></w:WrapTextWithPunct> <w:UseAsianBreakRules></w:UseAsianBreakRules> <w:DontGrowAutofit></w:DontGrowAutofit> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark></w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning></w:EnableOpenTypeKerning> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents></w:DontFlipMirrorIndents> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps></w:OverrideTableStyleHps> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"></m:mathFont> <m:brkBin m:val="before"></m:brkBin> <m:brkBinSub m:val="&#45;-"></m:brkBinSub> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"></m:smallFrac> <m:dispDef></m:dispDef> <m:lMargin m:val="0"></m:lMargin> <m:rMargin m:val="0"></m:rMargin> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"></m:defJc> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"></m:wrapIndent> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"></m:intLim> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"></m:naryLim> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves></w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting></w:TrackFormatting> <w:PunctuationKerning></w:PunctuationKerning> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas></w:ValidateAgainstSchemas> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF></w:DoNotPromoteQF> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables></w:BreakWrappedTables> <w:SnapToGridInCell></w:SnapToGridInCell> <w:WrapTextWithPunct></w:WrapTextWithPunct> <w:UseAsianBreakRules></w:UseAsianBreakRules> <w:DontGrowAutofit></w:DontGrowAutofit> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark></w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning></w:EnableOpenTypeKerning> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents></w:DontFlipMirrorIndents> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps></w:OverrideTableStyleHps> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"></m:mathFont> <m:brkBin m:val="before"></m:brkBin> <m:brkBinSub m:val="&#45;-"></m:brkBinSub> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"></m:smallFrac> <m:dispDef></m:dispDef> <m:lMargin m:val="0"></m:lMargin> <m:rMargin m:val="0"></m:rMargin> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"></m:defJc> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"></m:wrapIndent> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"></m:intLim> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"></m:naryLim> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="endnote text"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="Default Paragraph Font"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="Hyperlink"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"></w:LsdException> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="endnote text"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="Default Paragraph Font"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="Hyperlink"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"></w:LsdException> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"></w:LsdException> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]>
<object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui>
</object>
<mce:style><! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } --><!--[if !mso]>
<object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui>
</object>
<mce:style><! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } --><!--[endif] --><!--[endif] --><!--[if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} --><!--[if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} --><!--[endif] --><!--[endif] --></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5465/9096619606_34fbc27777_o.jpg" alt="A sign for food stamps at the farmers market" width="530" height="300" /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When Sara Kruzan was seventeen, she was convicted of first-degree murder of a man who had subjected her to sexual abuse and forced prostitution.&nbsp;Earlier this month—18 years after her conviction—the <a href="http://www.abolishslavery.org/life-after-jail-child-sex-trafficking-victim-sara-kruzans-future-plans/" target="_blank">parole board finally found Kruzan suitable for parol</a><a href="http://www.abolishslavery.org/life-after-jail-child-sex-trafficking-victim-sara-kruzans-future-plans/" target="_blank">e</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After spending more of her life inside prison than outside of it, Kruzan is going to face a tough time putting her life back together. If Louisiana Senator David Vitter has his way, she'll have yet another obstacle to surviving outside prison: <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/david_vitters_hypocritical_punitive_horrible_new_amendment/" target="_blank">a ban on ever receiving food stamps</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The proposed ban is an amendment on the larger Farm Bill <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/20/embarrassing-setback-for-house-gop-leaders-with-farm-bill-defeat/?hpt=hp_bn3" target="_blank">Congress is currently considering</a>. The Farm Bill authorizes the next five years of funding for most federal farm and food policies, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or, as more people know it, food stamps). Vitter's&nbsp;<a title="His amendment was unanimously and unquestioningly accepted in the Senate." href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/when_democrats_and_republicans_unanimously.html">amendment was unanimously and unquestioningly accepted in the Senate.</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The&nbsp;<a title="Vitter's amendment enacts a lifetime ban " href="http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocial-context/22352-oh-snap-vitter-s-food-stamp-amendment-has-deeper-consequences.html">amendment enacts a <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lifetime</em> ban</a> on anyone convicted of&nbsp;<a title="aggravated sexual abuse" href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2241">aggravated sexual abuse</a>,&nbsp;<a title="murder" href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1111">murder</a>,&nbsp;<a title="domestic violence and stalking" href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-I/chapter-110A">domestic violence and stalking</a>,&nbsp;or a federal or state offense involving sexual assault. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>At first glance, the above list may not warrant much sympathy or outrage. But keep in mind that the ban does note take into account whether the person was convicted of the crims years or even decades ago. In addition, Bob Greenstein of the Center on Budget Policies and Priorities points out, "Given incarceration patterns in the United States,&nbsp;<a title="the amendment would have a skewed racial impact." href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-greenstein/senator-vitter-offers--an_b_3321645.html">the amendment would have a skewed racial impact.</a>&nbsp;Poor elderly African Americans convicted of a single crime decades ago by segregated Southern juries would be among those hit."&nbsp;<a title="Vitter's amendment is retroative" href="http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2013/jun/20/federal_farm_bill_has_drug_polic">Vitter's amendment is retroactive</a>, and unlike the existing ban on food stamps for drug felons, it provides no provision for states to opt out, nor does it provide a chance to get a waiver by demonstrating rehabilitation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I've worked around prison justice issues since I was in high school. I've worked specifically around issues affecting women in prison—and with actual women incarcerated in different parts of the country—since 2000. Several of the women I've worked with have since been released from prison. One or two were lucky and had supportive family waiting for them. Others did not. They had to struggle to find housing, find employment, feed themselves and, if they had children (which over two-thirds of women in prison do), work to fulfill criteria that would allow them to regain custody of those kids. When I say struggle, I mean <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</em> struggle. <a title="Only 9 states have legislation which bars employers" href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Ban_the_box_Felony_records_can_be_job_deal_breaker/20130616_214_G1_CUTLIN587526">Only nine states have legislation which bars employers</a> from asking applicants if they have felony convictions on initial job applications. (the question can be asked in a follow-up interview, thus giving the applicant a chance to explain the circumstances).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em>And,&nbsp;</em>given the financial situation of many women before they entered prison, they may have had to rely on food stamps to feed themselves and their families even before arrest and incarceration. Federal studies have indicated that only 40 percent of all incarcerated women had been employed full-time before incarceration. Of those, most had held low-paying jobs:&nbsp;<a title="a study of women under supervision" href="http://static.nicic.gov/Library/018017.pdf">a study of women under supervision</a>&nbsp;(prison, jail, parole or probation) found that 60 percent had never held a job that paid more than $6.50 per hour.&nbsp;<a title="Another study" href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/wo.pdf">Another study</a>&nbsp;found that approximately 37 percent of incarcerated women earned less than $600 per month before their arrests.&nbsp;Other studies have found that mothers in prison tended to be the primary heads of household before their arrests and incarceration. In other words, making it difficult for them to put food on their table doesn't just affect them, but also their children and other loved ones.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Although most women in state prisons are convicted of violating drug, property or public order laws, some, like Sara Kruzan, have been convicted of murder. But remember: the penal code makes very little differentiation between the cold-blooded killing that we usually think of when we hear the word murder and killing in self-defense, whether it be from an immediate attack or after years of abuse. Even in this day and age, judges often need to be convinced that the woman acted in self-defense. (If you don't believe me, see the case of <a title="Marissa Alexander" href="http://justiceformarissa.blogspot.com/">Marissa Alexander</a>, who was sentenced to 20 years for firing a single shot at the ceiling to deter her husband from further beating her.) Official statistics on reasons for incarceration also fail to note how many women convicted of murder acted in self-defense.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I've had the honor of working with one woman who spent 20 years in prison on a second-degree murder charge. Since her release in 2010, she's worked tirelessly to help women returning home from prison with the myriad reentry issues they face—helping them find resources for housing, employment, job training, etc. She provides a listening ear and, whenever possible, a helping hand. She tells them what rights they have (and may not be aware of) and helps them navigate institutional bureaucracies to access those rights. But Vitter's amendment would prefer that she starve than ever be able to access food stamps.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After years, or even decades, behind bars, food stamps could mean the difference between being able to put their lives back together or having to depend on abusive, exploitative or criminalized means of feeding themselves and their families. Shouldn't the right to food should extend to anyone—regardless of gender or past actions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The House of Representatives is currently considering the bill. The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) hosted a national call-in day to protest cuts and harmful amendments to SNAP earlier this week. It's not too late to <a href="http://frac.org/leg-act-center/" target="_blank">add your voice to the discussion</a>.</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/snap-judgment-no-food-stamps-for-felons-bad-idea-vitter-amendment#commentsfarm billfelonyfood politicsincarcerationPoliticsFri, 21 Jun 2013 15:03:32 +0000Victoria Law23149 at http://bitchmagazine.orgPopaganda Episode: The Dinner Party, Featuring Isa Chandra Moskowitzhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/popaganda-episode-the-dinner-party-featuring-isa-chandra-moskowitz
<p><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7287/8744339203_0df633510b.jpg" alt="quote from the show: You shouldn't be thinking healthy with cupcakes" width="500" height="362" /></p>
<p>Feast on feminist art and food politics! The first course of this Popaganda episode savors artist Judy Chicago's influential work The Dinner Party with <a href="http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/dinner_party" target="_blank">author Jane Gerhard</a>, then gets a taste of modern feminist art with <a href="/post/a-different-kind-of-literacy-art-show-cliteracy-hits-nyc-this-weekend" target="_blank">Cliteracy artist Sophia Wallace</a>. Then we mix things up and head to Colombia for a&nbsp;story from a Passover meal among refugees, toss in a discussion about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Its-All-Good-Delicious-Recipes/dp/1455522716" target="_blank">Gwenyth Paltrow's cookbook</a>, and dish on food memories and the perfect dinner party with beloved vegan chef <a href="http://www.theppk.com/" target="_blank">Isa Chandra Moskowitz</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p><iframe width="480" height="480" src="//www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2FBitchMedia%2Fpopaganda-the-dinner-party%2F&amp;show_tracklist=&amp;stylecolor=&amp;hide_artwork=&amp;mini=&amp;embed_type=widget_standard&amp;embed_uuid=d153f350-5f4c-4eb8-bf2f-46b2af105c20&amp;hide_cover=" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
<div style="clear:both; height:3px; width:472px;"></div>
</p><p style="display:block; font-size:12px; font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin:0; padding: 3px 4px; color:#02a0c7; width:472px;"><a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/BitchMedia/popaganda-the-dinner-party/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=resource_link" target="_blank" style="color:#02a0c7; font-weight:bold;">Popaganda: The Dinner Party</a><span> by </span><a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/BitchMedia/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=profile_link" target="_blank" style="color:#02a0c7; font-weight:bold;">Bitch Media</a><span> on </span><a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=homepage_link" target="_blank" style="color:#02a0c7; font-weight:bold;"> Mixcloud</a></p>
<div style="clear:both; height:3px;"></div>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>This episode of Popaganda is sponsored by <a href="http://www.sheboptheshop.com">She Bop!</a></em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p style="display: block; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0; padding: 3px 4px; color: #02a0c7; width: 472px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Subscribe to Bitch's podcasts on&nbsp;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/bitch-radio/id330195674?mt=2" target="_blank">iTunes</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/BitchMedia/" target="_blank">MixCloud</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="http://app.stitcher.com/browse/feed/33589/details" target="_blank">Stitcher mobile app</a>, or through our</strong><strong>&nbsp;<a href="http://communityradio.pagatim.fm/category/bitch-radio/feed/" target="_blank">audio RSS feed</a>.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Download MP3s of Bitch's podcasts from&nbsp;<a href="http://communityradio.pagatim.fm/category/bitch-radio/" target="_blank">Community Radio</a>.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Or just browse our podcast archives&nbsp;<a href="/blogs/feminist-podcast" target="_blank">here on Bitch Media</a>.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Read the full transcript of this show below or <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/143093139/Bitch-Media-Popaganda-Podcast-Dinner-Party-Podcast-Transcript" target="_blank">as a downloadable file</a>.&nbsp;</strong></p>
<blockquote><p>BITCH MEDIA POPAGANDA PODCAST</p>
<p>THE DINNER PARTY EPISODE</p>
<p>Air Date: 5/16/13&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK:&nbsp; This is Sarah Mirk and this is Popaganda, Bitch Media's feminist response to pop culture podcast.</p>
<p>Thanks to our sponsor, She Bop, a women-owned sex toy boutique that specializes in body safe products and education. Check them out at sheboptheshop.com.</p>
<p>[jingle]&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the Brooklyn art museum, you enter a room that's dimly lit. In front of you is a giant triangular table that spreads out to reveal 39 place settings. You inch closer to the table and realize the plates look like something interesting: vaginas. This episode of Popaganda takes a look at this installation, arguably the most famous work of feminist art in America: Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party, which a group of artists made in the 1970s and now lives permanently in Brooklyn. Then we'll talk about feminist art being made today with artist Sophia Wallace. Then, because all this talk about dinner makes us hungry, we'll talk about actual dinner and call up everyone's favorite vegan chef, Isa Chandra Moskowitz.</p>
<p>To start the show, Bitch's Andi Ziesler talks with Jane Gerhard, author of new book The Dinner Party, a retrospective look at Judy Chicago's work.&nbsp;</p>
<p>ANDI ZIESLER: The Dinner Party is an iconic piece, but it's also just a monumental piece. Can you walk us through what it's like to see The Dinner Party in person for the first time?&nbsp;</p>
<p>JANE GERHARD: You start The Dinner Party tour by going through six banners in the entry and they're densely woven, very vividly colored. Chicago wrote a poem about what history might be like without patriarchy, the call of women to come see something sacred. You enter the exhibit itself and it's staged religiously, you walk through to a large triangle made up of tables. The illumination comes up from the floor, it's a darkish room. You walk toward the tables and what you see are 39 porcelain plates, each of which is in honor of an astounding women, some of whom are goddesses. Each plate is carved, some of them have a shimmery surface. As you go through the dinner party, each plate gets more complex. Each plate sits on an elaborate runner, which covers the whole table around the plate and each of those needlepoint runners that has been done in the stitch of that woman's historical era. For example, the first plate, the primordial plate, has shells and hide stitched in. The whole table rests on a floor made of 28,000 tiles that contain the names of 999 other women, who either support or flow from the women who sit at the table. So for example, Sojourner Truth, who sits at the table, women involved in the Harlem Renaissance stream under her. You get an experience that's multi-layered, everywhere you look, there's something else to look at, each of these details says something about women's lives, women's history, or women's absence from history.</p>
<p>ANDI: A lot of the book is about cultural feminism, that is feminist thought and theory that is transmitted through art and books and theater. The theme of the book is about how cultural feminism came under attack from critics in the late 1970s and 1980s. Can you talk a bit about why this is?</p>
<p>JANE: Chicago starts to invent the idea of the dinner party in 1972, 1973 and starts to work on it in earnest in 1974 and it takes her until 1979 to finish it. Feminism undergoes a lot of change in that five-year period. When she was working on the dinner party, she was very intent on inserting women into the history of western civilization. So she was thinking about women who had great accomplishments, who were queens, who were priestesses, who were great artists but had never been put into the historical record. There are a couple biases that builds in right from the get-go. One is that accomplished women tend to be thoroughly white, upper class women. The other is that she made the decision to represent each woman with essentially a vulva-style plate on the table. This is all about women's essential difference, no matter where you are in time and culture, you always have a vagina! This is what marks us as women, according to Chicago in the mid-1970s. That style of feminism that starts with a category woman in a pretty unproblematic way and is not attentive to multiculturalism or the global south is really not an acceptable ambassador for feminism in the 1980, right when it's coming out to make a tour. A lot of feminists really have a problem with it, so they don't embrace it in a way that Chicago thought they would.&nbsp;</p>
<p>ANDI: If you had to distill the legacy of The Dinner Party, to both feminism and art, what would it be?</p>
<p>JANE: I think it's really as a piece of history, it's a monument to '70s feminism, with its strength, and its brilliance, and its flaws. The fact that this piece has been canonized, along with Chicago's critique of the art establishment—it's very hard for women in 1970 and in 2010 to get their work shown, to get the financial support, to get the renumeration of male artists—some of that critique stays with it, so that newcomers seeing it now would also learn about how long and how chronic a struggle it has been for women to get the same resources in the arts that men enjoy. What about the dinner party might still offend in terms of what is fine art? A lot of needlework, porcelain, in some ways it doesn't qualify as fine art, It also continues to be provocative on that front, like: Is this art, or is it a great political project? It is one of the few pieces that make it into art historical surveys. Whether you love it or hate it, we all have to contend with it.</p>
<p>ANDI: Great point. Your book The Dinner Party: Judy Chicago and the Power of Popular Feminism is out in June from University of Georgia Press.&nbsp;</p>
<p>[music]</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK:&nbsp; Now we're going to move from talking about the Dinner Party to similar work that one artist is making today. This spring in New York, artist Sophia Wallace created an immersive art installation called Cliteracy. The installation is a wall of words, dozens of what Sophia calls "natural laws," that are all statements about clitorises. Natural law #4: "The clitoris is not a BUTTON IT IS AN ICEBERG." Natural law #34: "Our demands are SIMPLE real orgasms FOR ALL."&nbsp;&nbsp; Bitch Magazine editor Kjerstin Johnson got the chance to talk with Sophia Wallace.&nbsp;</p>
<p>KJERSTIN JOHNSON: I was wondering if you could describe what Cliteracy is if you had no visuals to use.</p>
<p>SOPHIA WALLACE: Cliteracy, 100 Natural Laws, is a large-scale text-based installation. It's minimalist, on white wood, with gold text, 100 laws written in text, and a six-foot neon piece that says "Cliteracy." The work is a new language for thinking about bodies, human rights, and sexuality. The work takes female genitals and treats them as a primary subject and talks about a lot of taboos that we take for granted, to point out their lack of logic and make fun of them, because they're funny. It's similar to the clitoris in that it's really expansive and complex and can't be taken in all at once, can't be seen all at once, but feels incredible and has so much that it can do. I was lead to this project not completely consensually, but from whatever creative voice&nbsp; was in my body decided this was what I was going to work on and just haunted. I was totally frustrated with the hubris of representations of sex, that you never, ever see a man reach down and touch a woman's clit while he's putting his penis inside of her. I just couldn't believe that pornography, in art, we just never see this ever and I was horrified by this and couldn't understand why no one was calling bullshit. Being a lesbian and having my sexual experience already on the outside, already otherized, I felt like I had nothing to lose. Because my work is dealing with visual culture and how power is represented in the visual realm, I felt I needed to deal with this. It was really just my shock and disbelief that in 2013, we still don't see a man reach down and touch a woman's clit. I just don't understand.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>KJERSTIN: Your background is in photography, why did you decide to build this work around text?</p>
<p>SOPHIA WALLACE It was really important to me that I didn't use photographs. The female body is so exposed, we're in this over-saturated environment where you can't escape seeing sexual images of female bodies. I knew that I wasn't going to use any literal depiction of the female body because that wouldn't address the subject matter. Over-visualization gives a false sense of knowing, when really we're just learning about these things in the past 10 years. So there's a paradox that the work is confronting—on the one hand, this saturation with the sexualized female and on the other hand, an environment where we don't know the scale and complexity of the clit, that 60-80 percent of women are not having orgasms though they're having sex regularly, where women are having painful intercourse, where young women are getting pregnant and not having orgasms. It's tragedy, and everything gets blamed on them. I really needed to attack this problem in a way that was abstract and complex. Text was the perfect way to do that.</p>
<p>&nbsp;KJERSTIN: The theme of this podcast is The Dinner Party, so how do you see your work, which does deal with female genitalia, where are you in that tradition?&nbsp;</p>
<p>SOPHIA WALLACE; I'm so grateful for the work of Judy Chicago, Carolee Schnemann, Valie Export, artists who were who were dealing with female genitals and confronting the shame and double standard and attack on female genitals. Incredibly grateful for that. I think this is firmly rooted in the present and it's a new way of dealing with the subject matter. It's a fresh perspective. It's bold, and embodied and sexy, and encouraging clit swag and not even asking, demanding to be dealt with in a new way. I consciously don't use my own body or the bodies of other women in this work, that's a really important conceptual choice and I respect the other choice, but it's important for me to work this way.&nbsp;</p>
<p>[music]</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: Now we're going to move away from talking about art that represents women coming together and talk about women actually coming together, for an important meal. Bitch reader and audio reporter Jessye Weinstein created this next segment about a seder among refugees living in Bogota. Colombia has the highest number of internally displaced people—local refugees—in the world. 80% are women and children. Jesse calls this piece "As the Waters Part: A Passover Story from Colombia."&nbsp;</p>
<p>[singing in Spanish]</p>
<p>JESSYE WEINSTEIN: Everyone 'neath their vine and fig tree shall live in peace and unafraid. And in deplouchers turn their swords, nations shall learn war no more. These are the words that sang our seder into life. Passover retells the story of the Exodus, the story of the Jewish people's struggle from slavery to liberation. During the Seder dinner, we are told that we are not merely telling a story of the past but are challenged to actually relive the memory. For many years my mouth has told the story, and yet it was not until this passover that it was actually relived with those sitting around the table with me.</p>
<p>The Seder table was the most beautiful I had ever seen it. Paper bags had been cut out and shaped into a tablecloth. The centerpiece was a cut out paper flower exploding with color and life. Life is something that the Afro-Colombian women have had to create out of many materials on hand, as they have all had to start from scratch. Violence and displacement mark their memories. The Exodus story begins here: with pain, and with displacement.</p>
<p>REFUGEE [translation from Spanish]: I am displaced from Buena Ventura. I have been living here in Bogota since November 29th, when I was violently raped, disgraced, and beaten by members of an illegal armed group. My daughters and I had to leave quickly, without clothing apart from what we were wearing. At this time, I feel slightly lost, because I have not been able to reorient myself. I have not been able to find myself in this place. Everything was taken from me - my life, my freedom. Now I am experiencing very severe problems. I know that I need counseling because I am unbalanced. I can't sleep. For us, it is very hard to survive here. My entire known world was my city, which I had never left. Here I am far from my family, my community. I don't know what to do. Only God knows the strength that has been required to stay on my feet, to try to live and forge a path forwards. I have always been a strong woman and I know many things. I am a woman who knows how to work. I have always been an independent woman, a fighter. I struggled greatly to found my own school. I worked nights, worked hard, doing all sorts of different things to be able to start up my own business. God and the people who have stood by my side have helped me to get ahead, and from this I hope to be able to reconstruct a life.</p>
<p>WEINSTEIN: The woman sharing her story sat rocking her baby on her lap. Her older daughter, eyes downcast, stood behind her. The chains of despair weighed heavily upon these women. Then Deda stood up. Deda had organized the Seder. A community organizer and artist in Bogota, she still carries her forced displacement from the rural Colombian coast and the murder of her family fresh in her memory. Asking the family to stand as well, she then turned to the rest of us. "We are going to send all of our good energy to this family," she said. With palms outstretched, our collective prayers began to flow.</p>
<p>Hope. Strength. Love. And with these prayers, the waters began to part. In the old testament it is Miriam, Moses' sister, who leads the women in song as the long waters part for the walk to freedom, making women's voices the first to truly mark the moment of liberation. This night around the Seder table, it was likewise the voices of women that created the foundations for that long walk. We used our collective prayers to call for something different than the violence caused by economic and military policies emanating from both our countries and financed by my government at home in the United States. We were calling for peace, for love, for life.</p>
<p>[music]</p>
<p>The beat of the bombo brought our voices together once more to conclude the Seder. The bombo is a special drum from the Afro-descendent tradition that was sounded to signal to the community that someone was about to escape from slavery to freedom. Tonight, the rhythm it marked had much the same meaning. All the emotions of the night poured into song as our voices united in the chorus. Because life is love, life is song, may we live life.</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: That piece was put together by the Witness for Peace Colombia Team in close collaboration with Daira Quiñones and other women organizers in Bogota, and edited by Alice Ollstein.&nbsp; The music in the piece was from Afro-Colombian music and dance group Son Sin Fonteras who will be touring the U.S. in October. For more information on tour dates or to set up a venue, email Colombia[at]witness for peace.org.&nbsp;</p>
<p>[break]</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: If you've ever eaten a delicious vegan cupcake or an unbelievably tasty dairy-free cookie, you likely have chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz to thank. Her cooking series Post Punk Kitchen and her great bestselling cookbooks have made vegan cooking—and general political discussions around food—really mainstream over the past decade. I called up Moskowtiz at her home in Omaha.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: My name's Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I just finished this cookbook called "Isa does it" which is easy vegan recipes for week nights.</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: I wanted to talk to you about dinner, and what dinner means. I want to talk to you about how you think dinner has changed since you were a kid, what you remember about dinner growing up, how what we eat and what we say about what we eat has changed.</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: For myself personally, its just become an entirely different thing. As a kid I mostly ate at my friends houses and it wasn't really an important part of my life other than 'where am I gonna eat dinner tonight.' I think in general people in the 70s and 80s were very much about convenience. Food politics weren't exactly a thing at that point, it was just 'let's get dinner on the table by any means necessary', whether that be a microwave dinner or a bucket of fried chicken. That's a sweeping generalization but I think that was the mindset.</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: What do you remember about the food you ate, specifically? Do you remember what food you would eat at friends' houses, would they have family dinners and you were sort of tagging along?&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: Well I was super lucky, 'cuz I grew up in Brooklyn and I had a vast array of foods to choose from. My friends' mothers, who were either immigrants or second generation, were a lot more into cooking than I think mainstream rural America was. So I'd go to my Italian friend's house and eat Italian food, go to my Puerto Rican friend's house and eat Puerto Rican food, that was the kind of food I was eating. And that's influenced how I cook now, because I pull from cuisines from all over the world to come up with my own recipes. Luckily I was exposed to all of these as a child.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: Can you think of some foods you ate for dinner growing up in those friends houses that you've since adapted or used for your own work?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: My friend's dad used to make this amazing Chana Masala, that's pretty much the Chana Masala I make today. The Italian flavors very much came from my friend Denise's house, I guess I was probably at her house more than anyone else. When I think about meatballs, I think about her mom's meatballs, coming up with my own vegan version with lentils I kind of aimed for that. Another friend's grandmother was always cooking for us and she was Jewish, so a lot of my Jewish palette comes from that. For me Jewish cuisine has this intriguing blandness, which sounds like an oxymoron, these very subtle flavors that are also interesting.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: How do you feel like people's approach to dinner now differs from those dinners you remember growing up?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: I think people are just more into cooking than they were. People like doing it, people kinda want to be in the kitchen or at least want to want to be in the kitchen and are excited by all the new options, and are wanting to cook a little more fresh and healthy. On the other hand, people are looking for ways to just make it as convenient as possible.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: Do you have dinner parties yourself in Omaha?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: I do.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: When you're preparing for a dinner party, what are you thinking about, are you worried about people's allergies or do you get bogged down in what drinks to make or is it really fun and loose?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: It depends on the crowd but mostly it's fun, sometimes I'll do a theme, maybe I'll do Jamaican food, or maybe I'll be cooking for a holiday and do Passover, maybe I'm having a True Blood viewing party and it'll be like, Cheese sandwiches.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: What was the last food you made at a dinner party that went over really well, that everyone ate all of?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: Well I do this writing group so that's kind of a dinner party, this last week I made deviled potatoes with Spinach pie dip, and almond pound cakes with strawberries and cream.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: If you could have your fantasy dinner party and you could invite anyone alive or dead, who would you invite and what would you serve?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: Well I've thought about this a lot, and I decided I would have people that are alive. I went with Nigela Lawson, Sarah Silverman… I decided there's only 5 people allowed, I tried to make it as realistic as possible.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: And five is the perfect number for a dinner party?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: Exactly.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: Why?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: Because I only have six chairs.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: So you can't have more people than chairs.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: Well you can if you're all gonna be sitting on the couch, but I felt like Nigela's not gonna sit on the couch I can't do that. Sarah Silverman totally would. So I've got Nigela, Sarah Silverman, Chris Rock, Peter Dinklage and Michelle Obama. That's my dream dinner party.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: Of all those people, who would you be the most nervous to cook for?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: None of them, that's why I picked them. Because I had other people in there, I had Simon Cowell and Hillary Clinton, they both got cut. I'd feel really nervous cooking for both of them. I feel like Nigela even though she's a chef she just loves food, and I feel like she'd like what I made. Everybody else I just think would be fine. I looked up if people had allergies and I didn't see any allergies, so that helps too.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: What would you cook for all these people at your fantasy dinner party?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: Okay maybe I didn't get that far. I'd probably cook stuff that was familiar, but I wouldn't wanna do Seitan or anything like that. I'd wanna do stuff that was really naturally vegan, I don't know exactly what I'd cook but I'd probably stick to things like lentils and chickpeas and well-prepared veggies. Things that were interesting and familiar but in unexpected ways. If I made meatballs for them I'd do like lentil meatballs, maybe a super creamy pesto. I feel like people that aren't vegan are always really impressed that you can get creaminess in vegan food, so using cashew cream, or Alfredo, or like a Swedish meatballs thing with cashews I think that would be really impressive. Maybe that's something they've eaten a lot of but it'd be exciting to use the different ingredients.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: One thing I really like about your book "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World" is you say, people think of vegan food and they think of it as this boring, other thing. The way to a person's heart is through a delicious cupcake, and it seems like that's what you're going for with this dinner party, we're gonna eat food you already know and love but it's gonna be healthy and a different take.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>MOSKOWITZ: Honestly, vegan cupcakes, they're not more healthy. I try not to bullshit people about how healthy it is. A vegan cupcake doesn't have cholesterol, but it's still a cupcake. And I don't think you should be thinking healthy with cupcakes, some things are just decadent fun. But I guess for the dinner party I'd just be thinking 'oh this is really fresh', and this is what we can do with vegetables. That's really exciting to me. The health is just a side-effect of it. I definitely think it's important to eat healthy, I'm vegan for ethical reasons not health reasons I guess, so to me I just wanna make sure people know that vegan food is delicious.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>[music]</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: For Thanksgiving this year, I had a complicated table. There was a meat-free section, a dairy-free section, a sugar free section, a gluten free section, and a section that was pretty much just beans. … Bitch Art Director Kristin Rogers Brown and Creative Director Andi Ziesler talk about the trend of crafting restrictive diets and how it feels to become one of those people who has to constantly talk about what you do and don't eat.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>ANDI ZEISLER: And now we've got Gwenyth Paltrow, the self-styled food and lifestyle expert, her new book is called "It's All Good" and she was inspired to write it after having a migraine and a panic attack at the same time. She thought she was dying and she was inspired to swear off most food. The recipes in her book include no dairy, no meat, no gluten, no soy, no sugar, no shellfish, no deep water fish, no bell peppers, no corn, no wheat, no eggplant, no potatoes, no caffeine or alcohol. As we've been joking, we have no idea why it's called "It's All Good" because clearly the whole point of this cookbook is that it is not all good at all. So both of us have food and ingredients that we don't consume. Kristin you recently gave up some foods in service to stopping your migraines.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>KRISTIN ROGERS BROWN: I was horrified, quite honestly, to discover that I had so much in common with a book called "It's All Good", regardless of the fact that it is written by Gwenyth Paltrow. Digging a little deeper into it I think it raised some issues, how we talk about food intolerances and choices in a really serious way.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>ANDI: I stopped drinking soda last year for a variety of reasons but largely because I didn't like the way it made me feel. I can't drink red wine or too much coffee because they make me think that I'm going nuts and wanna jump out of my skin. So there's very real consequences and physical reactions to food. What I think we're interested in talking about is whether there's a line between judicious restriction on the one hand and full-on Paltrow-vian martyrdom on the other. I think there's a real gendered aspect to that too, because for a lot of women food choices are similar to other lifestyle choices like childbirth. There's this idea that someone else's choice is automatically a referendum on other women's choices, and so there's this idea that we're being judged.</p>
<p>KRISTIN: I think it starts really early. Now that I'm deciding whether or not I'm gonna eat these things I'm having sort of flashbacks to being in college when I decided to stop eating meat. And I remember saying to people half-joking, "it's not because I think cows are cute", doing sort of a comedy routine about it so that people would still like me and not start into this attack mode. I'm from Chicago and to not eat meat and be from Chicago, physically attacking someone was the reaction that comes back. What I'm feeling when I do this again is a flashback panic, it's a very different culture when you say you're not gonna eat this thing that someone grew and worked on for you. And I wonder about that back and forth play between personally insulting someone else when it's something that you're doing to your body because it feels better for you.</p>
<p>ANDI: I think there is something to trying different eating plans and seeing what works and seeing how you feel. I think the real question I have is whether we would be more tolerant of these things if it weren't for people like Gwenyth Paltrow who are really trying to make a buck off of dictating to other people what their lifestyle should be. Is she making it harder for people who have legitimate food sensitivities and allergies to be out about it? Are they like "Oh, god, you're just like a Paltrow."</p>
<p>KRISTIN: I joked, when I posted about this, about hiding Martha Stewart magazines under my bed like porn. I feel the same way about my various stages of vegetarian eating, whether I was vegan or vegetarian, that I sort of hid it, and mine was less about the star power sort of control freak diet and more about not wanting to be seen like a flaky hippie that was experimenting with something. Not that there's anything wrong with that!</p>
<p>ANDI: We always have to say that, what if there is something wrong with it, what if there is?</p>
<p>KRISTIN: I'm annoyed by both sides, by the person who's trying to make a buck off it, and by the person who's wearing it on their sleeve from the other side of things too. I would like to stop being so self-conscious about all of it and, like you said, just do it because it doesn't make me feel crazy.</p>
<p>[music]</p>
<p>SARAH MIRK: This show about dinner parties took us all over the place—from New York, to Omaha, to Colombia, to Gwenyth Paltrow's kitchen. We covered art, and clitorises, chickpeas, and Jewish cooking. If you learned something new, please support our work creating and sustaining feminist media—we're a donor-supported nonprofit, so make a donation at bitchmedia.org.</p>
<p>Our jingle is by Mucks &amp; Owen Worker. Our producer is Sarah Molner at Pagatim Studios in Portland, OR and our intern Hannah Forman helped put this show together. Our fabulous sponsor is she bop at sheboptheshop.com, and you can read feminist responses to pop culture every day at bitchmedia.org.</p>
<p><strong><br /></strong></p>
</blockquote>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/popaganda-episode-the-dinner-party-featuring-isa-chandra-moskowitz#commentsfood politicsJudy ChicagoveganFeminist PodcastThu, 16 May 2013 20:08:08 +0000Sarah Mirk22619 at http://bitchmagazine.orgFertile Ground: Ecofeminism Needs Fightershttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/fertile-ground-ecofeminism-needs-its-fighters-feminism-greenwashing
<p>Sometimes—often—the news and media can get you down. For the ecofeminist, news can be downright devastating. Climate change is frying our cities, affecting the poorest people first—the majority women and children. Food deserts are rampant in these poorer areas. The government doesn't seem <a href="http://radicalkitchen.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/the-farm-bill-and-why-you-should-care/">to be slowing down subsidized crop worship,</a> unwilling to help the small organic farmers who actually grow food fit to eat. Chemical companies are polluting air and water, but people continue to buy toxic materials produced by these companies to decorate and clean their homes.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In 1990, legal scholar Angela P. Harris wrote in the anthology&nbsp;<em>The Fire this Time</em>, "As feminists begin to attack racism and classism and homophobia, feminism will change from being only women as women to being about all kinds of oppressions based on seemingly inherent and unalterable characteristics. We need not wait for a unified theory of oppression; that theory can be feminism." I would also include the environment in this string of oppressions. These issues overlap, and become stronger and more powerful when aligned. Feminism needs to be elastic enough to carry all of their combined weight.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So what is an eco-minded feminist to do amidst this world of depressing destruction? All I can advise is this: Get out there. Educate yourself. Do something and know you did that something. Education and awareness about systems of oppression is more crucial than ever. It is up to us to be eco-warriors, for the sake for feminism, for the sake of all oppression in the world. It is not only about buying "eco-friendly products," which, thanks to&nbsp;<a href="/post/fertile-ground-beauty-products-and-the-beast-ecofeminism-Lush-Aveeno">greenwashing,</a>&nbsp;we should be wary of anyway. It's about not buying new, if we can help it.&nbsp;It's about lifestyle choices and doing what you can: Make it, buy it used, buy it new if you must, but know what materials are in it, who made it, etc. It is about powering down at home. Walk and bike more, make wise food choices, harvest rainwater, hang your clothes up to dry. And get out into the community. Work in a community soup kitchen, or start your own. Participate in urban farming. Plant a renegade food forest, permaculture-style. Become increasingly self-sufficient, and less dependent on chemical-ridden corporations. Even if it's little things you do, you'll feel better and more powerful. These are not always easy choices, or sometimes even possible ones, but they are a start to get the mind thinking and consciously aware. There are plenty of books for inspiration and organizations you can volunteer with to find unity and community.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Making drastic lifestyle choices is scary, but can be done. My boyfriend (now husband) and I quit our jobs in the hopes that we could make it as organic farmers, though we had no farmers in our family, no real encouragement, and no land access. We now rent land, and, though the last time I made so little money was when I was in high school working at a library, we are making it work. Starting a business, or having a "green" occupation that helps society and the earth isn't for everyone, but if it is in you, then go for it. The earth has your back.</p>
<p>Thanks to Bitch Media for letting me be one of the many voices of ecofeminism during this series. Being able to see the world, including media, through an ecofeminist lens is important. Everything is related, and everything can be dissected. I've had people around me that call me "too sensitive"; can't I just buy that Starbucks iced coffee without thinking of it not being fair-trade and shade-grown, and without thinking about the plastic cup it's in, its plastic straw and with the straw's paper cover? Can't I ignore the factory-farmed milk it has in it, the sugar in it that is grown in a non-eco way? Can't I just drink the coffee and lighten up? Well, when you put it all together, it can seem like too much. But unfortunately, I'm not overreacting; the world is what has gotten so messed up, so deformed in light of humanity's quest for wealth, personal gain, thoughtless pleasure and material possessions—it's the world that's gone haywire. I wish it wasn't all like this, but it is. I wish I could snap my fingers and it could be different, but it won't be. We live in this world, and we have to continue living in it, doing our best to mend its wounds, even in what seems to be impossibly small ways. Collectively, I really believe all of our actions mean something. Keep fighting the good fight, and let's make our uphill ecofeminist battle soar.</p>
<p><strong>Previously:</strong> <a href="/post/fertile-ground-john-ivanko-and-lisa-kivirists-farmstead-chef-ecofeminism-cooking-food-cookbook"target="_blank">John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist's Farmstead Chef</a>, <a href="/post/fertile-ground-attention-shoppers-how-about-celebrating-by-buying-nothing-on-holidays-economy-consumerism"target="_blank">Attention Shoppers! The Problems with Celebrating Memorial Day by Shopping</a></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/fertile-ground-ecofeminism-needs-its-fighters-feminism-greenwashing#commentsanti-oppressionclimate changeeco-activismecofeminismecofeministfeminismfood politicsnewspoliticsSocial CommentaryFri, 01 Jun 2012 18:06:46 +0000Alison Parker17171 at http://bitchmagazine.orgLady Business: You want food stamps to go with that advanced degree?http://bitchmagazine.org/post/lady-business-food-stamps-higher-education-feminism-economy
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/u41102/growthinwelfarerecipientschart.jpg" alt="growth in welfare recipients chart--details below in post" height="255" width="500" /></p>
<p>Seriously.</p>
<p>Pursuing a life of the mind is expensive. The recent hubbub over the cost of student loans proves that at all levels, from undergraduate to graduate school, the investment pays off…unless it doesn't. Essentially, a Ph.D. <a href="http://www.measuringusability.com/usability-phd.php" target="_blank">is worth an estimated $17,000 a year</a>, but for a number of reasons, there are huge swaths of people who are increasingly not seeing the benefit of the six- or seven-year degree.</p>
<p>The Chronicle of Higher Education <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/From-Graduate-School-to/131795/" target="_blank">recently published this piece</a> about an increasing number of Ph.D.s who are relying on federal aid and food stamps. While the story does point out that people who don't go to college at all are more likely to end up being food stamp recipients, it highlights college faculty as an overlooked subgroup:</p>
<blockquote><p>A record number of people are depending on federally financed food assistance. Food-stamp use increased from an average monthly caseload of 17 million in 2000 to 44 million people in 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Web site. Last year, one in six people—almost 50 million Americans, or 15 percent of the population—received food stamps.</p>
<p>Some are struggling to pay back student loans and cover basic living expenses as they submit scores of applications for a limited pool of full-time academic positions. Others are trying to raise families or pay for their children's college expenses on the low and fluctuating pay they receive as professors off the tenure track, a group that now makes up 70 percent of faculties. Many bounce on and off unemployment or welfare during semester breaks. And some adjuncts have found themselves trying to make ends meet by waiting tables or bagging groceries alongside their students.</p>
<p>Of the 22 million Americans with master's degrees or higher in 2010, about 360,000 were receiving some kind of public assistance, according to the latest Current Population Survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau in March 2011. In 2010, a total of 44 million people nationally received food stamps or some other form of public aid, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.</p></blockquote>
<p>So, I thought the point of making the investment to get more education was to not rely on government assistance. I want to be careful about my tone, since I was a welfare recipient as a child. I don't think we should stigmatize men or women who need assistance, but this is a frightening precedent for institutions to set for women and families. Any institutional structure that does not pay its employees enough to care for themselves or for their families is a structure that needs to change. If you are educating future leaders of America, you should not be bagging groceries right next to them.&nbsp;</p>
<p>I thought food stamps were dependent on <a href="http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/12poverty.shtml" target="_blank">government poverty guidelines</a>, but it actually seems easier than that to qualify as long <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10101.html#a0=1" target="_blank">as you don't own anything</a>. I was under the mistaken impression that pursuing a tenured position at a college by earning a Ph.D. would enable me to avoid the awful Black Welfare Queen stereotype for the rest of my life, but apparently that's not the case.</p>
<p>As writer <a href="http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2012/05/black-welfare-queen-phd/" target="_blank">Stacia L. Brown points out</a>, this is a problem not just for tenure track professors, but also for adjuncts, since those of us who have worked on low-wage contracts for a few months at a time now comprise 70 percent of U.S. college faculty. What makes this even more annoying is that women who are in the ranks of academia are the majority in areas that aren't well-paying anyway: Chris Blattman, a professor of political science and economics at Yale University, <a href="http://chrisblattman.com/2011/06/24/what-of-phds-go-to-women-in-your-discipline/" target="_blank">took a look at the percentages of women in all fields last year.</a> The top five areas where more than 60 percent of Ph.Ds were awarded to women were Psychology, English Literature, Anthropology, Linguistics, and Sociology.</p>
<p>Here's <a href="http://www.american.com/archive/2008/march-april-magazine-contents/why-can2019t-a-woman-be-more-like-a-man" target="_blank">Christina Hoff Sommers with more of a breakdown</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Women now earn 57 percent of bachelors degrees and 59 percent of masters degrees. According to the Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2006 was the fifth year in a row in which the majority of research Ph.D.'s awarded to U.S. citizens went to women. Women earn more Ph.D.'s than men in the humanities, social sciences, education, and life sciences. Women now serve as presidents of Harvard, MIT, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and other leading research universities. But elsewhere, the figures are different. Women comprise just 19 percent of tenure-track professors in math, 11 percent in physics, 10 percent in computer science, and 10 percent in electrical engineering.</p>
<p>And the pipeline does not promise statistical parity any time soon: women are now earning 24 percent of the Ph.D.'s in the physical sciences—way up from the 4 percent of the 1960s, but still far behind the rate they are winning doctorates in other fields. "The change is glacial," says Debra Rolison, a physical chemist at the Naval Research Laboratory.</p></blockquote>
<p>Over at Feministing, Jos <a href="http://feministing.com/2011/08/09/women-need-a-phd-to-earn-as-much-as-men-with-a-ba/" target="_blank">breaks down more horrific statistics </a>in a post called "Women need a Ph.D to earn as much as men with a BA." Say word: "Women earn less at all degree levels, even when they work as much as men. On average, women who work full-time, full-year earn 25 percent less than men, even at similar education levels."</p>
<p>Ironically, I'm considering getting a doctorate degree. So I'm definitely interested in whether or not it's the best economic route to take. The evidence doesn't really stack up. Women in academia that I've talked to have complained that the academic world and womanhood can sometimes be incompatible (which, apparently, is also true in life). These findings take things to a whole new level, though.</p>
<p><strong>Previously:</strong> <a href="/post/lady-business-women-money-feminism-economy"target="_blank">Introducing a Blog About Women, Money, and Business</a></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/lady-business-food-stamps-higher-education-feminism-economy#commentsacademiafood politicsWelfarewelfare and womenwelfare queenSocial CommentaryWed, 09 May 2012 23:04:19 +0000Joshunda Sanders16769 at http://bitchmagazine.orgFertile Ground: Five Films For the Ecofeminist in Youhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/fertile-ground-ecofeminism-film-food-environment
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7214/6963928674_df70f3be25_o.jpg" alt="Images from the film What's on Your Plate: an illustration of plants growing, a picture of two young girls in green t-shirts, and a blurb about the film that reads: Knowing where our food comes from has never been more important. In this witty and provocative documentary for kids and families, Sadie and Safiyah explore their place in the food chain" width="600" height="398" /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Within the last several years, some great eco-themed movies have swirled about in theaters and Netflix queues. Both scripted and documentary, these films have been effective at conscious-raising and spreading the word to take action to heal our wilting planet. They cover some of the bases of our eco-crisis, but this is in no way a comprehensive list. It is only a sampler platter of the fine films out there! &nbsp;All of these films can be viewed through an ecofeminist lens, bridging the gap between environmental issues and feminist ones. &nbsp;There are layers of oppression in everything from food justice to gentrification, and there is much ground to tap into and discussion to be had.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I opted to only list some of my favorite documentaries, though there are many excellent fictional ecofeminist films out there (lots of sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, you-fucked-with-nature-and-see-what-happens? ones, like <em>Children of Men</em> and <em>Wall-E</em>). I also will admit there are many documentaries I have not yet seen. (Both <em>Blue Gold</em> and <em>Flow</em> have to deal with crucial water issues, and both are supposedly great.) Lastly, this small list is of films whose themes were both inspiring and upsetting, but all made me want to take action, even in small ways.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><a href="http://www.whatsonyourplateproject.org/"target="_blank">What's On Your Plate?</a></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As a farmer, this is one of the movies I watch when I'm in a bad mood. The film follows two girls in New York City as they get more connected to and educated about the food they eat. It's both inspiring and fun, and since it revolves around kids, it is extra motivating for me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><a href="http://www.freshthemovie.com/"target="_blank">Fresh</a></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">OK, so kind of the same theme (sorry, food is my thing!), <em>Fresh</em> came out about the same time <em>Food, Inc.</em> did, which is too bad, since it was largely overshadowed. I didn't dislike <em>Food, Inc</em>., and am glad its popularity spurred awareness pertaining to the damaging effects of industrial agriculture; however, these films had distinctly different ways of presenting their material. While <em>Fresh</em> was uplifting and carried the same anti-agribusiness principles, <em>Food, Inc.</em>, made me want to crawl into a ball, read <em>People </em>magazine and just plain give up on life. Even though you may know the issues that both these movies contain, the key difference was that <em>Fresh</em> reminded me sweetly, making me want to get up and make a meal, while <em>Food, Inc.</em> made me want to forget dinner all together.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><a href="http://www.endofsuburbia.com/"target="_blank">The End of Suburbia</a></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A documentary about the end of cheap oil and energy, this film is a peek at what's coming. It also is a call for a more localized economy and a more sustainable way of living.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><a href="http://www.noimpactdoc.com/index_m.php">No Impact Man</a></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This film, made by NYC-based writer Colin Beavan, follows Beavan and his family as they decide to live for one year doing as little destructive impact on the environment as possible. When this film came out it received a fair amount of mixed criticism—mostly faulting Beavan's supposed self-indulgence—but for me, it carries a lot of inspiration and reminders about living consciously.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><a href="http://www.bluevinyl.org/">Blue Vinyl</a></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Filmmaker Judith Helfand sets out on a journey to uncover the toxic secrets underpinning the blue vinyl siding her parents are putting on their house. The exposure to vinyl chloride—the key ingredient in vinyl—is a largely ignored hazard, from the making of it in factories set in poor, low-income areas and off-gasing chemicals in the atmosphere—giving these neighborhoods a load of disturbing health problems—to the disposing of it in landfills. I saw this film years ago, and it still haunts me (in a good way).&nbsp;&nbsp;For our farm materials, we avoid buying PVC whenever possible because of it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What say you, commenters? What documentaries (or other movies) do you recommend?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Previously</strong>: <a href="/post/fertile-ground-beauty-products-and-the-beast-ecofeminism-Lush-Aveeno">&nbsp;Beauty Products and the Beast</a>, <a href="/post/fertile-ground-occupy-the-earth-ecofeminism">OCCUPY the Earth</a></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/fertile-ground-ecofeminism-film-food-environment#commentsdocumentariesecofeminismenvironmentalismfood politicsSocial CommentaryWed, 25 Apr 2012 18:36:26 +0000Alison Parker16484 at http://bitchmagazine.orgFertile Ground: Farming for Feminismhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/fertile-ground-women-feminism-food-farming-femivore-eco
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7039/7060951529_f4197ef9a6_o.jpg" alt="A white woman from the neck down, holding a watering can and wearing an apron. She is surrounded by chickens. From dottieangel.blogspot,com" width="366" height="500" /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Blame it on Laura Ingalls Wilder: Deep down, I always wanted to be a pioneer.&nbsp; I wasn't raised on a farm, and when and if we did have a yard depending on where we moved, it was always pretty small.&nbsp; I remember reading one of the Little House books, perched by my window, where Laura and her sister Mary harvested potatoes and turnips to be stored for the winter.&nbsp; I looked out the window of where we lived then, a townhouse my parents were renting, just to see a long row of sidewalk and the window of the replica townhouse across the way.&nbsp; We didn't have a yard then, but I fantasized about planting potatoes and turnips in the flower boxes down below.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fast-forward to freshman year at Evergreen State College: I began going to Earth First! meetings, and during one, a member talked about growing food as an act of social and environmental justice.&nbsp; It was an off-handed remark (the conversation was actually about tree-sit schedulings), but upon hearing it, a lightswitch clicked on inside of me.&nbsp; It had never really occurred to me until then that growing food could be a radical and political act.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The what's-for-dinner question for my family is not just a question of Thai take-out or pizza (though at times, it might be).&nbsp; It's about where the food's both literal and abstract roots came from.&nbsp; Were these beets produced in healthy, chemical-free soil and unattached to the ghosts of thousands of truck miles?&nbsp; (In our case, the answer is usually yes, since we're farmers and grow all of our vegetables).&nbsp; Did this chicken get to live a wandering life, eating bugs, raised by a farmer we know?&nbsp; Did this honey come from one of our hives, and if not, from a holistic beekeeper nearby?</p>
<p>To properly dissect ecofeminism, one must accept that the use of agribusiness chemicals is a feminist issue.&nbsp; Women have historically been and remain the primary growers of most of the world's food, and they are the ones primarily dealing with deadly poisons like DDT that are still legally sprayed on vegetable fields in places like China. &nbsp;<span lang="EN">If we are buying questionable cucumbers that may have harmed the women, men and children from their origin farm with exploitive labor practices and toxic, foul-smelling chemical sprays, we are taking part in the system we, as feminists, are working so hard to unthread.&nbsp; This goes for supporting and eating at restaurants, too; if you are eating a pulled pork sandwich at a local deli, unless noted, that pork has come from a long-suffering pig from an environmentally-devastating, toxin-seeping industrial factory farm.&nbsp; If you are eating a tomato salad from a run-of-the-mill café, that tomato likely had a harrowing journey from Mexico, wreaking havoc on the lives of farmworkers and the field's landscape with its poison-sprayed body.&nbsp; Ecofeminism requires taking a step back and supporting non-exploitive, non-destructive enterprises. How can we combat the horrid things that take place every day, all over the world?&nbsp; For me, it's by growing organic food for my family and community. It's important for me to adamantly step outside mainstream capitalist economics as much as possible, moving away from things they carry with it, including corporate greed, climate change and environmental destruction; as feminists, these are some of the heinous models of oppression we are up against.&nbsp;&nbsp;Canning tomatoes may seem trivial in the grand scheme of things, but if everyone put up canned tomato sauce for the winter, maybe that corporate, poison-coated tomato wouldn't have to be grown.&nbsp; <span lang="EN">&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of course, the "New Domesticity", as it is dubbed by many bloggers, "radical homemaker" as it is called by writer Shannon Hayes, and the <a href="/post/the-biotic-woman-what-the-hell-is-a-femivore">much-debated</a>, Peggy Orenstein-coined term, "femivore," all have their share of critics, and they should. We can't forget to look at these movements through a race/class lens. For example, without a doubt, CSAs and organic farmer's markets are much more prevalent in affluent areas. This, of course, is a mammoth problem and a whole other ecofeminist issue (I will discuss access to healthy food in low-income areas in future posts). What I can say is this: When all is said and done, I do have hope. CSAs are still relatively new, and not as well-known here in the Midwest as other places. Movements like these usually do, unfortunately, start with the elite who are privileged enough to partake, and take time to move elsewhere. I see positive changes lying in many nonprofit organizations' CSA farms that have started to spring up since the movement has taken off. We worked alongside Growing Home, one of these wonderful nonprofits, in Chicago, who bring fresh CSA boxes and market vegetables to one of the city's South Side food deserts. Our farm (and many farmer's markets) accepts food stamps from customers. Vacant lots in cities like Chicago and Detroit provide a blank canvas for those wanting a deeper connection with food-growing. There is still much, much more work to be done in this department, but hope trickles slowly, and I feel I must keep pressing forward and have faith that these things will spread in all directions, like an ink blotch on paper. Glimmers of positivity help me to keep fighting the good fight and pushing forward.</p>
<p>Then there is the woman-as-fifties-housewife or liberated traditionalist debate. &nbsp;Emily Matchar wrote<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-new-domesticity-fun-empowering-or-a-step-back-for-american-women/2011/11/18/gIQAqkg1vN_story.html"> a piece </a>for the <em>Washington Post</em> this past winter about the virtues of canning apricot jam and embracing the domestic arts as a young woman.&nbsp; It was met with slight disgust by writer Jamie Stiehm, whose counter article&nbsp;<a href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/Jamie-Stiehm/2011/12/05/new-domesticity-is-a-step-backwards-for-women">bemoans the step backwards</a> for women that the New Domestics bring.&nbsp; In regards to Matchar's waxing on about canning, knitting, and raising animals, Stiehm's piece grumbles; &nbsp;"there's no need to make a fetish out of all that. We must pursue progress for women, given all we have been given." To put growing and preserving food in the "cutesy" category, painting it as a stern symbol of womens' oppression, no questions asked, Steihm is actually the one taking the step back.&nbsp; Not only is she dismissing women's choices, but she is dismissing an entire traditional and political context.&nbsp; If she actually listened to these and other reasons instead of writing off performing sustainable home arts as a fleeting fad, she may like what she hears.</p>
<p><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5461/6914869826_bd1b8e5fc7.jpg" alt="an old-timey poster featuring a white woman canning vegetables with her daughter. The text reads Grow Your Own Can Your Own and the daughter is saying, We'll have plenty to eat this winter, won't we mother?" width="351" height="500" /></p>
<p>To some, many aspects of the "radical homemaking" way of life sound miserable.&nbsp; Is my life for everyone?&nbsp; Certainly not.&nbsp; I can say firsthand:&nbsp; farming is no picnic. Washing carrots in ice-cold water outside in December can be very painful. Canning forty jars of pickled beets takes forever.&nbsp; Massaging chopped cabbage for sauerkraut hurts my hands for hours.&nbsp; In terms of the big picture, though, for me, it <em>is</em> rewarding; I am saving money, and my values remain intact.&nbsp; I am not succumbing to consumer-driven cultural expectations that I oppose.&nbsp; I view wealth as something besides dollar bills; we barter, we grow, we forage, we hunt, we dumpster dive, we work-trade, and we never feel empty or dissatisfied for lack of purchasing things (except when I occasionally browse etsy.com.&nbsp; Damn you, Etsy!).&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;But this isn't the only way to be a part of the ecofeminist, new domestic revolution.&nbsp; I would never expect everyone to want to live the life of a farmer, or even for everyone to want to can their own green beans and slaughter their own chickens.&nbsp; For ideas that work just as well, try buying and bartering from people and places you want to support. (Since we know our CSA is expensive for some people, we have an option where people can work at the farm or market in exchange for their vegetables. We are certainly not the only farm that does this, and many don't advertise it; you have to ask.)&nbsp; Shop at the farmer's market, buy raw, fermented sauerkraut locally or directly from a farmer, knit a sweatshop-free hat, ride your fossil fuel-free bicycle, cook something simple from scratch.&nbsp; These are feminist acts.&nbsp;&nbsp; As small as they may be, they are acts that oppose and un-weave heartless systems of oppression, like factory farms and sweatshops.&nbsp; These oppressive systems carry the real prison walls, not your kitchen.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Previously:</strong> <a href="/post/fertile-ground-where-the-girls-are-not-gender-outdoor-play-feminism-nature">Where the Girls Are...Not: Gendering Outdoor Play</a>, <a href="/post/fertile-ground-intro-to-ecofeminist-thought"target="_blank">Intro to Ecofeminist Thought</a></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/fertile-ground-women-feminism-food-farming-femivore-eco#commentsecofeminismfemivoresfood politicshomesteadingnew domesticityorganic foodorganic growingradical homemakersSocial CommentaryMon, 09 Apr 2012 19:46:57 +0000Alison Parker16220 at http://bitchmagazine.orgThe Wedding March: Size Doesn't Matterhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-wedding-march-size-doesnt-matter
<p>With the whole world watching, it's understandable that Kate Middleton wants to look her best on her wedding day. But her recent weight loss has provided the press with its favorite topic: deconstructing women's bodies. </p>
<p>The same tabloids that criticized her curves are now the ones accusing her of being too thin, the ones who gleefully pick up on the slightest hint of cellulite on a model's thighs on one page whilst wringing their hands about the pressures facing modern women on the next. When movies and magazines are filled with size zero women being presented as the ideal—or worse, the norm—any woman who does not conform risks being labeled fat. Being sent piles of designer clothes might sound wonderful, but when they come in traditionally tiny sample sizes, the message is clear. </p>
<p>She's embarking on a lifetime of having how she looks be more important than what she does, and if the current coverage is anything to go by, she's never going to be allowed to get it right. In our celebrity-addicted culture, women are too thin or too fat—the only time they're just right is when they've been airbrushed so heavily that they're barely recognizable. But Middleton won't even be given that dubious privilege—the more perfect she seems, the more the paparazzi are obsessed with catching her on an off day.</p>
<p>When the <i>Daily Mail</i> ran a story about Middleton's "reassuring" attempts to gain weight, they listed the calorie content of her favorite snacks. What could have been an affectionate look at how she is, after all, Just Like Us, became an insidious jibe at her eating habits. This, after a shopkeeper who serves her regularly decided that the contents of her shopping basket were newsworthy. Whilst her fiancé's comfort food of choice was mentioned, it never became the focus of the article. His appearance doesn't matter. He has what the beauty industry would consider flaws, but if he's engaged in a last-ditch pre-wedding attempt to fix them then it has escaped the eagle eye of the press. </p>
<p>Crucially, we have no reason to believe Middleton is unhealthy at this or her previous weight, but if she were, that would be a matter for close friends and family and her doctor, not the media. It sounds strange, after everything from her ancestors to her favorite sweets have been hotly debated by the press, to say that her size is nobody's business. But it's true. She isn't advocating a boot camp-style pre-wedding diet, she isn't publicly bemoaning the size of her thighs, and she hasn't become a spokesperson for Botox. There's literally nothing controversial to report, and certainly nothing that's anyone else's business. </p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-wedding-march-size-doesnt-matter#commentsbody imagefood politicskate middletonprince williamroyal weddingweightSocial CommentaryMon, 25 Apr 2011 17:41:13 +0000Kaite Welsh10027 at http://bitchmagazine.org